Jamshedpur, May 6 (PTI) Five people, including a panchayat secretary, were arrested in Jharkhand's East Singhbhum district for allegedly issuing over 4,000 birth certificates without valid documents, police said on Wednesday.
A total of 4,281 birth certificates were issued by the Matiabandhi panchayat in Chakulia block since January 2023, either on the basis of forged documents or without any valid documents, Deputy Commissioner Ananya Mittal said, addressing a joint press conference along with Senior Superintendent of Police Kishore Kaushal.
The arrests were made after a case was lodged by Chakulia's Block Development Officer Aarti Munda on May 2, he said.
A Special Investigation Team headed by SP (Rural) Risharbha Garg was formed to investigate the complaint, the SSP said.
Among those arrested were Matiabandhi panchayat's secretary Sunil Mahato (59) and Common Service Centre owner Sapan Kumar Mahato, he said.
The other three are touts, he added.
The incident came to the fore after former CM Champai Soren alleged that over 3,000 birth certificates were issued illegally to Bangladeshi infiltrators.
Referring to the arrest of 13 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants by Mumbai Police recently, Soren said their Aadhaar cards had addresses of Sahebganj district in Jharkhand, and the date of birth of all of them was mentioned as January 1.
Police said they have also recovered computers, printers, laptops, a high-end smartphone and 190 such certificates from the panchayat office. PTI BS SOM